“I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure of the landscape – the loneliness of it, the dead feeling of winter. Something waits beneath it, the whole story doesn’t show.” ~Andrew Wyeth

Winter is when…

* a season of rest ravages nature’s beauty.
* bare branches stand out as scary stickmen.
* blustery winds whip the last of the dead, fallen leaves…into the neighbor’s yard.
* the sky glooms in shades of gray.
* a vale of cold grief shrouds the land, interred in an intangible grave.
* all appears lost.

But deep inside the earth and plants, the sap of life quivers, quietly awaiting its appointed resurrection.

The Lord once said to me…

“During the long winter months, when nature has seemingly lost all its beauty, life still flows deep within its darkest recesses. The trees appear naked and dead without their leaves and blooms. The ground seems hard and bare without the beauty of flowers and grass. But, in reality, life is ever-present, ever-flowing.

“It flows in the sap that is deep within the trees. It stirs within the seeds of flowers yet to bloom. Both are quietly at work, awaiting their appointed time to be awakened and spring to life…”

Do your trials appear as winter starkness? Tempestuous seasons of life swoop down upon us through storms of bereavement, affliction, or adversity, which can leave us heartbroken and lifeless.

What is your winter circumstance? The winter of my…my what? Would you fill in the blank with…

In all your heartaches, do you sense the underlying rumbling of that divine sap of Life? God’s Spirit of regeneration still flows within you. Your time of renewal will come.

The Lord said…

“Sometimes My people must also endure their long winter months of travail when their fruit seems to have withered and their branches seem bare. But deep within their roots, My Spirit moves with eternal life.

“All may seem dark, lost, and devoid of life and beauty, but, in such a life lived with Me, My work still goes on…Allow My Life to flow through you, especially in the darkest of times, so then will you be renewed.”

No winter is so warm or so cold as that which lies in the heart. As a twist on what Victor Hugo said, “Winter is on my head, but eternal spring is in my heart.”

Does your life feel as though you have lost all your beauty? Are the first signs of decay setting in, causing you to feel bare and fruitless? Has your inner strength diminished? Is your heart filled with the flowing of Eternal Life?

As you wait out those bleak seasons, expecting God’s answers and renewed inner beauty and strength, you can be assured it will come, as Isaiah said, “But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.” (Is. 40:31 NKJV)

In the winter of your waiting…

…may you experience a time of renewal.
…may your winter blossom with new life.
…may your heartache be massaged into joy.

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